Mother
by Cryshalo
Summary: Essentially AU. An alteration in the past will give us an entirely new enviorns.
1. Prologue

Mother  
  
By Cryshalo  
  
\\~~~~//  
  
The Third Testament  
  
Second Apocrypha  
  
Concordo  
  
Preface  
  
September, 2017  
  
It's been a long time. It hasn't been pleasant; in fact it's been a nightmare. We rose like God's and suffered on that scale. Someone has to tell this story, and I guess it's fallen to me. I'm sorry, I know prefaces usually last at least a few paragraphs and sound intelligent. But I don't know what to say.  
  
We stood, we hurt, we died. And some of us are left standing to try and move on. For those that aren't, this is for you.  
  
Shinji Ikari, Third Child  
  
\\~~~~//  
  
Prologue.  
  
\\~~~~//  
  
July 7, 2015  
  
"Asuka!" yelled the unshaven guardian. "Asuka! Get back here!"  
  
As the girl heard the voice of her young love her eyes widened. The power of her strides sent a fiery mane lashing out as if a banner of her presence. "I'm coming, Kaji!" she trilled from across the greens. "Wait for me!" Grass bent under her imperious treads as she made her way across the greens of the courtyard.  
  
"Hurry, Asuka," urged the anxious agent beside the emergency elevator. The beautiful red-head slammed into him full-tilt, throwing him against the rear wall of the chamber. With jagged pain lancing up the nerves of his back he slammed his palm upon the control panel. The gates slid shut and internal lighting sprang on. Lights indicating the many floors of the base flew past as they descended into the base.  
  
"Well, what's the big rush?" she asked with a touch of petulance. "Not that I don't mind being with you," she said before pausing with a lovely smile, "but I was enjoying myself up there."  
  
Kaji had no touch of play in him now, however. "It's begun. They want you to watch," he informed with barely a whisper.  
  
Asuka frowned and searched Kaji's eyes. "What's started?" she asked, the beginnings of anxiety colouring her voice. Legendary for his calm under fire, Kaji Ryouji was not one to ever panic, let alone show it. When the lion feels the need to run from danger, wise creatures did the same, though in different directions.  
  
"Angels," was all he said and Asuka understood his concern. For so long the threat of the Angels had been an abstract concern, now all too real.   
  
The doors of the elevator opened up onto their floor and Kaji led his charge at a breakneck pace through the labyrinth of passages and offices. Past startled staffers and rushing technicians he led young Asuka by the hand and arrived at the Senior Conference Room. Not bothering to knock he opened the door and gestured for Asuka to enter. Once past the steel threshold of the room she was in a darkened room, lit only by the flicker and glare of numerous monitors and displays upon the wall. The senior officials of NERV Germany were present and watching the largest display at the fore of the room with manic intensity.  
  
It was easy to tell why. Evangelion Unit-01 had just made it's appearance on the surface.  
  
"Unit-01, deploy Progressive Knife and prepare to engage," came a tinny voice from the speakers. The Ops Director, Asuka guessed.  
  
"I'm ready," replied the Pilot.  
  
"Third Child," whispered Asuka, mainly to herself. Son of the NERV-Japan Commander. Time to see if this appointment was nepotism in action or a valid choice.  
  
"Combat Operations are approved. Captain Katsuragi, you have TacCom."  
  
"The Commander," whispered Asuka again, this time with far more awe and anxiety. There were rumours about the people who earn the Commander's ire. Rumours that all to often contained disturbing phrases. Like 'well, he's in a better place now'.  
  
"Acknowledged. Unit-01, engage the Third Angel."  
  
"Aye."  
  
There was a palpable sense of worry and fear in the Third Childs voice and Asuka let herself sneer. But she had to wonder, what would she have felt, facing down this creature. And what was it that the Third Children truly felt?  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
"Unit 01, engage the Third Angel."  
  
Easy for you to say Misato, you just have a little image on a screen. I have … this monstrosity filling my vision, thought Shinji as he levelled his gaze upon Sachiel.  
  
"Aye," replied Shinji quietly before he bent his mind to the task. The Prog Knife hummed in his hand, he could feel the vibrations dimly. Sachiel began to close and Shinji rushed forward. He stabbed down with the knife, aiming for that red jewel of a core. No such luck, Sachiel pulled back with disturbing limberness and snapped an arm forward, grasping Unit-01's head. Much of Shinji's vision blanked out by the hand and he gasped at the quick reversal.  
  
He threw his head back and his arms up and with the grace of trains colliding the grip was broken. As Sachiel's hand was swept back the pulse of energy that had been building discharged against a building as it steadied itself. The apartment block collapsed in ruin, smoke and debris whistling away from the blast. The street was filled with a haze of rising smoke and Shinji's heart hammered in his chest.  
  
If that had hit my head… Shivering with fear, Shinji pushed that thought aside.  
  
"Watch out Pilot Ikari, it's got that little weapon on either hand, so be careful if you grapple," informed one of the technicians.  
  
If I close with him I'm going to have holes knocked out of me! worried Shinji. "Right," he answered quickly, trying to regain his bearing. "Let's try that again," he whispered.  
  
The monster before acted first though. As the Prog Knife came around the Angel's own hands knocked it away to career off into another building just to Shinji's right. It tore out a great swath of destruction as it tumbled down and more smoke entered the street brawl. Shinji screamed in pain feeling fingers break under the assault. The next blow felt like a pile driver as it landed upon his chest, knocking him back a few paces. Gasping for breath Shinji curled up in his seat.  
  
The Angel's eyes flared and then there was light; searing light that scoured out a path of destruction along the thoroughfare, with Shinji in it's midst. His agonised scream carried over the speakers of the Command Bridge as his Eva was knocked to the ground, to screech back dozens of metres, landing some distance from the Angel. Ears ringing with the pain and eyes wanted to force themselves shut as Shinji tried to recover.  
  
The Angel walked over and reached out to grab him by the head.  
  
Inside NERV, the Commander sprang up from the seat at the upper command dais and screamed out "Fight it, Shinji!"  
  
With the entry plug of Unit-01, Shinji heard the call through the pain and looked at the display of Headquarters and the upright commander; the black uniform the tinted glasses, the powerful presence. He growled abruptly and his hands rose up to challenge the Angel before him. Grip and counter grip was made and with a strained grunt of exertion, Shinji ripped his arms free. Pain flared as his arms loosed themselves from the enemy grip and he cried out.  
  
With pain slowly driving out his normal mindset, Shinji was increasingly seeing red as his breathing grew increasingly ragged. His right arm came free with the most power and it shot behind Shinji, pawing the ground, raising up a cloud of dust and debris as it shot behind up, coming up with fingers curled, ready to choke and strangle and decimate an enemy. The crouching Eva braced itself as the Angel recoiled, one arm broken.  
  
He spared a glance for the image of the commander. "Yes, mother."  
  
Standing upon the command dais in Central Dogma with a grey-haired loyal Sub-Commander on her right stood Commander Ikari. And as the right hand of Unit-01 came around with renewed fury before the awed presence of the bridge's technicians, Yui smiled.  
  
\\~~~~//  
  
End Prologue.  
  
\\~~~~//  
  
Authors Notes.  
  
Well, here's an exploration in a different direction. I don't think I've seen this concept arise before, but maybe that's just because I'm far stupider than anyone else. I guess when you read this, you'll be able to decide for yourself.   
  
Expect:  
  
- My extrapolations on events if Gendo, rather than Yui had been chosen as the Test Pilot for the 2004 Contact Experiment.  
  
- A look at the darker cloak-and-dagger fighting that assuredly was taking place beneath the surface.   
  
- Mental effects of losing the father rather than the mother upon Shinji as well as Rei's place in the world.  
  
- A few other things.  
  
It's flameable, but different and I pride myself on not being thin-skinned anyway. 


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One.  
  
\\~~~~//  
  
The Book of   
  
- Councils -  
  
1:1. Among the gifts given to Humanity from the Lord were the Qumran scrolls. 2. Within these scrolls were the 248 positive scenarios that the possessor may enact and 365 negative scenarios. 3. Divided into first Loyalties, then Kingdoms, then Strains, each scenario could be used to bring about chains of events   
  
… 34. It was the promise of the Lord to his Children that they be allowed to enact these scenarios according to the free will that he had granted them as they would…  
  
4:3. It came to pass that in the lands of the Dead Sea emissaries of SELEE discovered these scenarios and took possession of them. 4. The men and women of SELEE were corrupted by the power that had been handed them and searched the scrolls for their personal aggrandisement. 5. Searching to rival God Almighty in their hubris, they seized upon the Red Earth Strain of Scenarios in an attempt to warp events. 6. Knowing the covenant that had been sworn, they demanded the events of the Red Earth Scenarios without thought for consequence or morality…  
  
6:7. So Kihl Lorenz pressed his Councilors to the vote to see whether they would enact their scenarios. 8. Therefore the 16 councilors of SELEE gathered in the darkness to cast their ballots…  
  
\\~~~~//  
  
August 17, 2000  
  
Seconds ticked away on the digital display of the clock. Nearing the designated time. In a quiet communication chamber, a very anxious young woman waits for the number to tick along to the appropriate time. Running her hands through her short brown hair.  
  
Lucky bastard of a husband, he doesn't have to make decisions like this, she thought to herself in frustration.  
  
The chair she sat in swiveled from side to side as her eyes slipped out of focus and her mind concentrated.  
  
What if he's wrong? What if this isn't inevitable? But if he's right, my god … there would be no other way. This Strain of Scenarios would be our only fighting chance.  
  
The digital clock was silent and only the humming of electronics and the grating of the swiveling chair filled the room. The entire room was black, with golden crisscrossing lines, encompassing the chair upon which the woman sat in a manner akin to a shell.  
  
But of course, their words hold a ring of truth. We truly are at a standstill. Humans, condemned to a perpetuity of stagnation until we inevitably kill ourselves. Here we can take away pain and sorrow and suffering. And even those who die and suffer here will ascend with us to bliss and the pain and suffering will be meaningless. After all, if someone suffers, but the suffering is erased and they do not remember, did they truly suffer? If the tree falls in the forest and no is around…  
  
What does the tree think of it all?  
  
Time ticked over and the golden lines faded away, as did the confines of the shell. Now the brown-haired woman was within a void. There was a floor, as black as the sky, with no discernable horizon. Shapes began to appear; featureless monoliths. They were arrayed in a circle, of which the woman found part. Soon after appearing, each monolith would acquire certain features. The label "SELEE" and a number, as well as the words "SOUND ONLY" were soon emblazoned upon the face of the black slabs as they hung in the air.  
  
The woman knew the others, behind those monoliths, who looked in her direction, would see only a monolith, sporting the label "SELEE 07" and that she was entirely anonymous amongst them. Everyone here prided themselves upon the intense security and the amazing technology at their disposal. They had created it, wrought these creations with their own hands and minds. Behind those monoliths sat heads of state, chief executives, scientific geniuses and military masterminds.   
  
This brown-haired woman, a youthful eighteen, fit into the third category and was a prodigy in her field. With her husband, ten years her senior, their work was already rippling through the world of Biogenetics. It was to this that she owed her seat at this illustrious council; this and the councils mistrust of her husband. She knew she would have a role to play in what was to come, depending on her decision.  
  
Idly wondering if her cooperation here was some sort of naïve fantasy, a dream of changing the horror her species could perpetrate, the scientist folded her hands into her lap and prepared her mind for what was to come. Graduate of University at 17, married at 18, the mind she prepared was not some stumbling tool but a lethal weapon. That was why she was here, a member of the council, albeit a junior member, replacing a more senior member who had passed away.  
  
From the brimming silence between the assembled came forth the voice of Selee 01, who was, she knew, Chairman Lorenz or Secretary-general Lorenz, depending on the occasion.  
  
"Twelve days past we held off on this decision, now we reached the juncture. No more may we idle, lest the time for it to be a decision pass us by. The question posed is known to us, the arguments for and against branded into our thoughts. We have reached the limits of the time we have to debate this, the future of our species. Your cast will be your one and only, and from here our paths are set in stone. Let there be no hesitation among us.  
  
"Now how say you?"  
  
Devices embedded in the walls of the shell in which the scientist's body sat projected messages against her pupils. A running transcript of the meeting was displayed in a manner akin to a Heads-Up Display. It let her keep track of who was saying what, what was said before and other information as may be required.  
  
"Selee 02, how say you?" demanded the voice.  
  
"Yea," voted the member, the voice male and confident. Selee 07, sitting in her little shell waiting her turn, knew that the tone was a fraud though and Selee 02 was a woman. All voices being transmitted in this meeting were male, regardless of their origins. It was part of their secruity, another piece of anonymity.  
  
In the circle between them, a simple counter came into life, two numbers hovering in the air. One above the other. The upper, the yea's, was currently registering one; the other, the nay's, registered zero.  
  
"Selee 03, how say you?" demanded the voice of the Chairman.  
  
"Nay," came the reply.  
  
With time ticking down against her, Selee 07 struggled with the question, switching opinions from second to second, desperately searching for the solution but knowing there truly wasn't one. The rope was too knotted for a human mind to assess and there were no knives to cut this cord.  
  
"Selee 04, how say you?" demanded the voice again.  
  
"Yea," voted the man behind the monolith.  
  
There was no dodging the question, that the Chairman had the right of. From this point forward, action must be taken, in one fashion or the other. Two courses, one certain to provide horror, but with grace at the end. And one which may provide horror, with oblivion at the other end.  
  
"Selee 05, how say you?" spoke the powerful tones of the first.  
  
"Yea," came the vote.  
  
Three over one, read the counters that Selee 07 could see. There seemed to be a preponderance for action already, but then, it was still early. The lower numbers had been more supportive then the latter ones had, anyway.  
  
"Selee 06, how say you?" sounded out the voice once more.  
  
"Nay," determined the man or woman for whom the sixth monolith was an avatar.  
  
This is it, she though to herself, sounding as a whisper even within her own mind. All the struggles with her conscience, all the research, everything, now paled before this moment.  
  
"Selee 07, how say you?" crashed the sound of doom.  
  
She closed her eyes. Breathing ceased and the world slid to a halt.  
  
Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no…  
  
"Yea," she said, clear as the rest, as timely as the rest and seemingly as confident as the rest. And with that word she set the fate of her soul upon sheets of granite and blot herself from the Lamb's Book.  
  
From there, she couldn't focus and did not keep track of the votes from there until the end.  
  
"Selee 16, how say you?"  
  
"Nay," voted that last marker, with vanity in his heart, for the two counters would now read as follows, Yea '8' and Nay '7'. The contest was decided as the single white eight sat over the single white seven, determining the course of future events, with but eight syllables.  
  
Truly, there is power in words to create and destroy and all manner of action within these.  
  
"And as Chairman I cast my vote as 'yea'. There reads nine for and seven against. The yeas have it. Humanity will control Second Impact and the Red Earth and make a destiny for ourselves as an ascendant species; the hand of man at the right hand of the Almighty."  
  
"In unity," chorused the assembled, denoting their concession that the majority decision will be in effect the unanimous decision. "Truly," they chorused after the notes of their unity faded.  
  
"The necessary actions have long been laid out before us," reminded Kihl. "Now there is nothing in our way. All here know their tasks and what will await them in time. Nothing now remains but to carry them out and bear our burdens."  
  
And with that the meeting was effectively adjourned and Selee 07 was one of many to quickly vacate the meeting. The void faded and the young woman was once more herself, no longer a Councillor of the Throne of Souls, no more Selee 07. She sat with her head clasped in her hands, crying as her shoulders shook. Behind her the door to her shell opened and light cascaded into the dark.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Yea," she answered hoarsely, defying her tears.  
  
"And you?"  
  
"Yea," she responded once more, her nails biting at her forehead as she second-guessed her decision.  
  
"Then it is done, Yui, and we must look forward. We have a part to play here and now we must play it, for good or ill," answered Gendo Ikari as he placed his hands upon the shoulder of his wife, Yui Ikari.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
…6:35. Therefore the members of SELEE stretched out and called upon the covenants. 36. Upon Antarctica in the south, they unearthed Adamo and the Lance of Longinus and prepared for Second Impact.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
September 12, 2000  
  
"You're leaving already, Ikari?" asked Doctor Katsuragi.  
  
Gendo smiled grimly and waved back to the Doctor absently. "Orders, Katsuragi, I've got to give an update report."  
  
The dark haired Doctor frowned deeply as he turned to fully face his colleague. The two men stood in the commons room of the expedition base. Katsuragi stirred a cup of coffee as he searched the eyes of the other man, wondering what game was afoot. For his own part, Gendo's empty cup sat by the sink and he stood by the door, a briefcase in his left hand and a thick overcoat over his right.  
  
"In person?" asked the Doctor incredulously.  
  
"That's what I thought. But nevertheless, orders are orders," replied Ikari in a level tone of voice.  
  
Unable to poke a hole in the rationale, the Doctor continued to frown, but took a sip of coffee and nodded. "Of course. When should we expect to see you again?"  
  
"I'll be returning in about two days," replied Gendo honestly. "My helicopter is waiting, good bye." Without waiting for a response, Gendo strode out from the room without a backwards glance. Unhappily sipping his coffee, Doctor Katsuragi turned over possible ulterior motives for this abrupt departure from the Antarctic Research Station. Wading through several of varying degrees of likelihood or absurdity he eventually shrugged it off.  
  
Katsuragi took a sip of coffee. So intently staring at the closed door was the dark haired man that when the door hissed open he started and spilt his coffee down his shirt. He swore profusely at the sting of the hot liquid. Laughter brought his eyes up, turning to glare menacingly at the new arrival.  
  
"Tsk, tsk, daddy, you potty mouth," giggled the girl who had walked in.  
  
Doctor Katsuragi sighed and frowned at his daughter. "Misato…" he grumbled.  
  
"Yes, daddy?" she replied brightly, leaning forward with a wide smile, clasping her hands behind her.  
  
Heaving a deep sigh the doctor just shook his head. "Never mind, girl." He took a gulp from his coffee and sat it down on the table. "How are you?"  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
7:1. When Katsuragi carried out his experiment there was a great fire in the south. 2. Awakened and angered, Adamo began to pour forth the cup of his wrath upon the ice. 3. Faced with his sins, Katsuragi sought redemption in the delivery of his daughter into safety. 4. So it was that when Adam's wings stretched into the sky the only witness was Misato Katsuragi. 5. Terror struck the heart of the child and she became mute … 12. The inferno burnt away Antarctica and unleashed a great flood upon the entire world. 13. A great ruin was inflicted upon all the coasts and fully half of all men and women perished without prejudice.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
"Come on, Misato, hurry! Hurry!" urged Doctor Katsuragi, hauling his daughter through the biting winds. The howling of the winds in their ears was surreal. Into the open air hanger they ran, as if pursued by the very demons of hell. The buffets of debris nearly made them fall as the Doctor reached a single Containment Pod in the midst of a large warehouse. As he snapped the pod shut with his daughter in side he fell upon it's unyielding surface, his energy spent.  
  
Behind him in the distance, out of the sight of his eyes, stood a giant. Brilliant and merciless, he stood vexed and all suffered his rage.  
  
The warehouse was blotted out with the rushing passage of a tidal wave.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
September 13, 2000  
  
Yui Ikari sat under a tree upon a hill and gazed upon the ocean. Before her eyes it rose steadily. As it had been foretold, Second Impact was loosed upon the species. Even from here, she could hear cries of panic and confusion as relentless waves rose upon those who deemed themselves masters of the earth. In their folly and genius, humans had given granted unto nature to claim her revenge and establish dominion and in both hands she took that bowl of wrath and poured it out upon the earth.  
  
Long had humans oppressed that which lay around them, imposing there will and order against that which nature had dictated. Now the seas swept forth and all Babylon's Wonders fell, the iniquities of humanity judged by cleansing waters that visited the revenge of the world upon which they preyed.  
  
Sixty metres, at least.  
  
Two billion, conservatively speaking.  
  
The price demanded to turn destiny aside, not just to defy it but to create it anew, was ruinously high.  
  
And Yui Ikari had gone into it without the grace of blinds or the bliss of ignorance, but with a knowing mind and heart. Her single syllable had joined eight just like it and changed the world. Should the world ever discover she would never be forgiven, Yui knew. By her hand nature had been given sway and the right to the cities and people of the coasts.  
  
She wept and wept, the black fabric of her clothing spilling upon the ground as the tears ran dry even as she mourned. What she wept out from her soul was innocence and within each tear it was carried away, leaving coldness in it's wake. The beautiful young woman, eighteen years of age and a genius of her chosen craft, wept away what might have been and set herself to the path she must now follow. From here on, she swore she could permit herself no tears and allow no doubt.  
  
The point of no return was dust in the depths of history and nothing but the cobblestone path of the Red Earth Strain of Scenarios lay ahead. She would have to know them by heart, deep in her soul, their meaning, their limitations, their malleability. Already the talk of who was to be One who Demands as written of turned to her; the one who would command those forces foretold from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Her and her husband Gendo were the two names of the current shortlist.  
  
Her husband was now at sea, safe, or at least he should be. Returning survivors of the Katsuragi Expedition, Gendo, her husband, and Kozo Fuyutski, her mentor from University, blessed with foreknowledge denied Dr Katsuragi and his team. Adam awaited, now docile and meek, an embryo ready for what lay ahead, already the key to the ascendancy of humanity.  
  
Kaworu Nagisa had been born today, she knew. Events years from being played out were already coalescing in a slow-moving tragedy millennia in the works.  
  
Standing up from her rest under the tree on the hill, Yui descended back into the world, her tears spent and her soul sold.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
September 19, 2000  
  
Civilisations and people may be rising and falling but certain parts of life must go on. Sitting at home with a warm mug of cocoa late at night, Yui Ikari checked her e-mail accounts. Rugged up with a blanket around her pyjama-clad body her legs were pulled up against her chest as she pushed the cursor about the screen.  
  
"Are you coming to bed yet, Yui?" came a voice from across the house. Yui smiled as she drank of her cocoa.  
  
"Not yet, honey, I'm checking my e-mails first," she called back, poking through the various entries. Only a couple e-mails had arrived. There was a pang in her heart as she realised how much responsibility she bore for the conditions that led to that state. She pushed aside her guilty pangs; this was for the best, the evolution of mankind. They would understand, once all were one.  
  
With a quick skim of the subjects she frowned at one from a Selee agent within the Interior Ministry that had the code words designating something of the utmost importance and urgency. She clicked it.  
  
From: zsun@method.com.nz  
  
To: yikari@harper-anon.org.cx  
  
CC: archive@oslo-horticulture.net.ic  
  
Re: HermesHermesHermes  
  
"We have a problem. I don't know how, but the Minister knows the truth behind the Katsuragi Expedition. The Minister learned last night, again, unsure how. Absolutely furious, swore vengeance against the Council. As far as I know, the information is being kept with the Ministry Building in Tokyo. This is being played carefully, I don't think it even really left the department, but that's a matter of time.  
  
I hear the Minister has arranged a meeting with Prime Minister Koizumi tomorrow morning. No prizes for the topic of discussion."  
  
Chocolate milk went all over the floor as the porcelain shards of Yui's skittered across the floor. Ghostly pale and trembling, the young scientist stammered as she tried to get control of her voice box.  
  
"Gendo!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she finally recovered. "Quick!"  
  
Her husband came running, a Russian made pistol in his right hand, eyes darting around. "What? What happened?" he said harshly, looking for danger. Yui just pointed to the screen in fear. "A problem indeed. This could be disastrous," said Gendo with a grimace.  
  
"Yes, yes," replied Yui. "Oh, this could undo everything. We must stop this," she whispered.  
  
"How?" asked Gendo, ever pragmatic. "I don't think fear will work. They'll keep this close to their vest, I bet, as they prepare to act. So the information would be central to Tokyo." He frowned as he contemplated the facts. "We'll have to decapitate the government before they decapitate us."  
  
"Destroy the government? How, a commando assualt? Too much chance of missing things and their computer network would still be active."  
  
A mild chill seemed to grip the room as Gendo's eyes hardened. Yui held her head in her hands, almost pulling out her hair. "An EMP wave would disrupt their computer systems," he said.  
  
A nuclear device? thought Yui in horror. Insane! The radiation, the collateral … the radiation may not be the biggest issue and that city is going to drown anyway, right? The Americans have that new toy…  
  
"Gendo, honey, do the initials 'N2' mean anything to you?"  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
September 20, 2000  
  
"So do you have a plan?" asked Selee 01 harshly. The revelation of the information leak was entirely unsettling and the emergency meeting had been arranged with utmost speed. The worry was almost palpable as everyone prepared to confront one of the first of many unexpected obstacles.  
  
There was quiet for a moment. Then the seventh spoke. "We will require the assistance of our American compatriots." Her voice, altered and mangled by the system, came through masculine and dangerous.  
  
"What specifically?" asked Selee 09, a ranking official who would likely be arranging these things.  
  
"An N2 mine," replied the seventh. Those four syllables delineated the plan. No one needed to really explain further; in this context, an N2 mine would only have one application.  
  
"Are you sure?" asked Selee 01, masking his surprise.  
  
"The Foreign Minister will be meeting the Prime Minister today. It needs to happen today," replied Yui.  
  
"Very well," replied Selee 09. "There is a flight of B2 Spirit Wings currently en route to Diego Garcia in response to the Sub-continental Situation. This should not be difficult."  
  
"Are there any objections?" asked Selee 01. "Very well, then. Another reminder that not all forces at work are our own. We must be vigilant and we must control this incident no matter what. Selee 09, carry this out, Selee 13, see to it our involvement is never brought to light. Try and ensure the American involvement is also unnoticed. It would be a difficult blow to our assets should it be destroyed."  
  
"Unlike Tokyo?" questioned Selee 03, a very rare occurrence.  
  
"Tokyo is attempting to turn upon us," responded Selee 01.  
  
"Intolerable," agreed Selee 08 quietly.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
Yui sat upon the roof of her house with Gendo by her side that fine morning. A soft cool breeze wafted through, a break from the hammering of the rainstorms that had been racking the hemisphere since Katsuragi's ill-fated experiment. The shingles were damp with that rain, despite the current interlude. So Yui shifted uncomfortably whilst she curled up against her husband. Gendo's calm held as his arm encircled his wife. His eyes were boarded up, impenetrable, like blast doors had been placed over them. One person could he let inside and in the turmoil of the past week, he did wonder if he knew her still.  
  
They faced south-east, toward Tokyo.  
  
"They wouldn't understand; they don't understand," whispered Yui as she curled up sadly.  
  
Gendo said nothing.  
  
"If they would understand … if they could understand." Haunting little whisper on the wind, carried into nothing. "They don't understand." She looked up at her lover hopefully. "This doesn't matter, will it? When the time comes, they'll be back and we'll be one." She smiled softly, dreaming of Gendo looking at her. "We'll be one, you and I, forever. And that'll be forgiveness, yes?"  
  
Gendo glanced over at his wife. "Of course."  
  
Harsh white light flared upon the horizon and Yui buried herself against her husband's chest. Soon after a rumble tore through the quiescent air.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
"…Dragons are looking in fine form again this season, continuing a winning streak despite a scare in the first quarter of their match with … Ladies and Gentlemen we have breaking news coming in."   
  
Humidity was prevalent in the muggy hospital room. Air was all but liquid; one drank rather then breathed. A young nurse was changing the bandages of her patient's torso wound. Then the nattering of the news anchor changed pitch into something much more frantic and caught her attention.  
  
"A series of what appear to be nuclear detonations have struck the capital. I repeat, Tokyo has been destroyed by nuclear devices. We are currently scrambling to provide better coverage for you. Okay, we're crossing now to Yoko Furukawa on the outskirts of Tokyo."  
  
Blanching in horror, the young woman stammered for a moment before screaming the name of her friend, in the hall just outside. "Get in here quick!"  
  
The image on the screen changed from the very plain studio and to bedlam. A camera showed the newly wrought devastation over Tokyo. Clouds billowed from the impact sites in several points and all that could be seen of the ground was shattered construction and devastated environment. It was clear that Tokyo had been hit with the intention of making it disappear from the map. What the waters of the previous days hadn't done, the unrestrained fury of the atomic devices   
  
//~~~~\\  
  
June 17, 2004  
  
"Well, now we make our decision. Who shall be the sacred heart of the Evangelion, and who shall be our commander. We stand at a fork in the road, either could accomplish either task with equal precision. To all eyes, there is no difference between them." Selee 01 laid out the situation to the assembled full council, shy Yui Ikari, Selee 07.  
  
"All the relevant information foretelling this rift has been withheld as per the requirements," added Selee 13.  
  
"If there be any difference between them in capacity or determination, none can tell," mourned Selee 09.  
  
"Despite the seeming difference of soul, they are truly of kindred cloth, one as warm or savage as the other," said Selee 06.  
  
"The question becomes, is Selee 07's presence amongst our council a boon or a detriment to her capacities?" asked Selee 02.  
  
"If she is worthy of being a Councillor of the Throne of Souls, she is trustworthy for the role of the One who Demands. It is Rokubungi whose presence in this role I would dispute," said Selee 05.  
  
"And yet her presence upon this august body would grant her too great an opportunity for dissonance," argued Selee 11.  
  
Now, in the thousands and millions of permutations the universe had put forth in it's tramps through time under the watching Eye of God the Almighty, there were many times where this quandary was raised amongst this party. In half of the cases, the council tipped to one side and Yui Ikari was absorbed into Evangelion Unit-01 and distraught Gendo Ikari assumed the tools to engineer his quest for her retrieval. But in the other half, Gendo became the test pilot for the purple monstrosity. And from there results took a somewhat different trend.  
  
And through it all He watched to see what His Children might do with the gift of free will this time. 


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
The Book of   
  
- Vigils -  
  
1:1. Set in their monstrosity, Selee continued the requirements of the Red Earth Scenarios. 2. In their search for their living sacrifice, the council deliberated between Gendo and Yui Ikari…  
  
4. Emboldened by their crafts, Selee assigned Gendo Ikari as their sacrificial lamb.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
June 18, 2004  
  
"So it's you, my dear," congratulated Yui. "So lucky, I wish I could be the one to prove what we have wrought here."  
  
Gendo smiled as he embraced his wife. "Evangelion shall provide our species with it's final ascendancy, and it will have been through our efforts. We have a right to pride. When I am in that plug, of part you will be too. Will Shinji be watching us?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," beamed the now slightly older, slightly wiser mother. "He'll see our triumph unveiled for the world."  
  
"He'll be proud," said Gendo firmly, "Once he grows up."  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
3:1. In misled folly, on the 18th day of June in the year 2004, Gehirn committed the Contact Experiment. 2. Without soul and angry, Unit-01, Fallen Lilith, subsumed it's pilot Gendo Ikari…  
  
7. Severed from her husband, there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. Yui locked herself away and began her vigil.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
June 19, 2004  
  
Kozo let himself into the room, to find it a disaster area. Yui had apparently lashed out once she'd gotten home. Everything was upset, with furniture and effects turned over, just like Yui's life. Upside down, never to be righted once more.  
  
The test had failed, spectacularly so. Scars left from this failure would last for a long time. Of course, Shinji had to see the whole thing, just to create a nuisance. So now the pall of death hung over the base. Kozo's head hung under the oppressive scent of failure. Each step through the debris-strewn room was a conscious act of will, an act of defiance.  
  
The door to Yui's study was unlocked and Kozo opened it, the quiet click audible against the uncanny silence. Yui had cried till she ran out of tears and settled against her desk. She lay there like a husk, emptied and abandoned. Her figure looked so small amongst the dark and foreboding, eight feet high bookshelves lining the walls. The musty smell of scrolls and books and the softest hum of the latest computer went unnoticed by the widow Ikari.  
  
"Yui…"  
  
"He's gone, Professor," whispered Yui, dispelling Kozo's belief she were asleep. "That abomination took him. Now I'll never get him back."  
  
Kozo placed a comforting hand on Yui's slim shoulder, though she showed no sign of acknowledging it. "We're all going to miss him, Yui. We can grieve now Yui, there's nothing we can do whilst they investigate."  
  
"It's never going to be the same without him, Kozo," whispered Yui. "My strength is gone…"  
  
There was a pause as Kozo sighed and Yui raised her head. A glass of water provided a rippling reflection for her as uneven light shone through it. Everything seemed to ache as she watched her reflection morph with the disturbed water. It seemed there was still tears after all, as the salty liquid rolled across her cheek and down into the full glass.  
  
"I know. Gendo was the strength of Gehirn," whispered Kozo, as he thought of his late, determined student. There had been such drive and power in the man and even so, Kozo had thought he was capable of more. Like reinforcing steel, Ikari had propped them up and provided strength and purpose to Gehirn.  
  
"So what do we do?" asked Yui, we can't stop, else all be lost to us. But … how do we go on?"  
  
"Our own strength," said Kozo as he knelt, placing his greying head near Yui's. You're the ranking member of the project now. You have that same strength Gendo did. You can be our guiding light."  
  
"Gendo's strength?" whispered Yui as she closed her eyes. "How can I match that? I've never met his like, nor will I. God above broke the mould after he made Gendo."  
  
That comforting hand on the shoulder squeezed, tightly so that, in other times, Yui might have winced. "You have that strength," said Kozo. "It was what drew Gendo to you and you to Gendo." His voice was urgent. "You lead Gehirn, now. It's incomprehensible our Selee commanders would order anything else."  
  
Yui opened her eyes. Kozo saw a shimmering iris slide towards the corner of Yui's eye to regard him. "There's a secret I should let you in on, Kozo," she whispered as he stared at that blue iris.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I'm one of those Selee commanders. If you divulge that, you will be killed by their order."  
  
Kozo's eyes went huge as he reared back slightly, his breath hitching. "You?" he whispered. Yui nodded once, shallowly. "I see. Why do you tell me this, now?" Yui didn't respond but looked at the desk once more. Kozo sighed and stood, burdened by new knowledge. He turned to leave.  
  
Before he left, there was still something he had to say. "I'll stand by your side like I did Gendo. But you still have to be Gehirn's strength. You can do it every bit as well as Gendo did."  
  
Yui burst from the desk in sudden rage and stuck at Kozo. "Bastard, how can you talk about him like that!" Kozo recoiled from the strike and the manic eyes of the widow. "Did he mean nothing at all?" she shrieked, following up with blows aimed at the aging man's head. "How can you ask this of me," she whispered as Kozo's hands caught her own.  
  
"I was loyal to Gendo," answered Kozo as he struggled against Yui's athletic strength. "I am loyal to you, and I am loyal to Gehirn and our species." Slowly the tricks of his many years came into play and Kozo gained leverage. "This is what Gendo was loyal to, providing a future without pain for us all, and for Shinji. That's what he wanted."  
  
The fight left Yui and she sank back upon her chair. Wheeling back under the force of the landing, she found herself facing the side of the desk. Her eyes drank of the wood grain of the desk as her mind all but left the now and then. Kozo stared for a while as she sank into quiet introspection. Seeing there was nothing for him here, he turned once more. It was when he had his fingers upon the door handle she turned and called his name.  
  
"You're going to be my second, Kozo." Yui's voice carried across the room barely.  
  
"Of course," assured Fuyutski.  
  
"However, leave me for the next few days. Administer the investigation as required, but see to it that I'm left alone to study. It may take days, it may take weeks, but some things require doing."  
  
How flat her voice is, thought Kozo Fuyutski, the old Professor. "Yes, Director Ikari."  
  
"Carry on, Assistant Director Fuyutski," replied Yui.  
  
Yui waited until she heard the door click close. Sighing, she stood up and turned 360, looking at the enormous bookshelves that lined every wall of the study. On the desk beside her, the computer whirred softly, ready to work.  
  
This was never meant to happen, and I think there's something I haven't been told, she thought to herself. There are answers in here, and I can find them. It's all a matter of looking in the right spot.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
June 20, 2004  
  
"They say," began the mousy assistant in the dim lab. She was crouched conspiratorially with her friend between their workstations. Both eyes glinted in the harsh artificial light. Before she continued she noticed something wrong. "Wait, no, no, start with a parabolic extrapolation and continue from there," she warned a more junior tech deeper in the lab.  
  
"Well?" asked her friend when the errant technician was set aright.  
  
"She locked herself in her room. Packages of manuscripts and computer disks keep arriving but little food. Nothing leaves. She hasn't seen daylight since … since."  
  
The friend shuddered. "Don't say it, I was there. Unit-01 is an Abomination." She crossed herself.  
  
Agreeing wholeheartedly the mousy technician nodded. "She's taken it hard." Afraid of all ears, she leaned closer. Mouths sidled next to ears intimately. "They say she hasn't even seen her son yet. She had a meeting with Fuyutski yesterday, noontime. Since then, she's had almost no human contact, just study."  
  
"That's not healthy," whispered back the friend. "And poor Shinji, the boy lost a father. Is he losing a mother, too?"  
  
\\~~~~//  
  
June 21, 2004  
  
The heavy door shook under Kozo's knocking. But inside, Yui could ignore it; she could ignore anything. She sat on the floor reading through sheets after sheets of ancient script, translating as she went with the knowledge she acquired, with exhaustive concordances and with specialised PDAs.  
  
The sheer amount of data being sifted was mind boggling. From Angels, to Sumerians, to the Qum'ran, to ancient cults, to modern cults, to the experimental Magi systems, back to the Qum'ran Scrolls, to the Eva Technical Documentation, to the experiment notes, to Gendo's diary, to council meeting transcripts, to the journals of ancient Israeli scholars, to the Holy Scriptures, back to Angels, then to angel-worshipping cults, to political hotsheets and back to the Evangelion Documentation, Project E notes and the Qum'ran scrolls.  
  
Data surrounded her like a blanket and she was absorbed into it in a way she had never experienced. In all the cram sessions in university, the brainstorming and research in Gehirn or for Selee, at no other time had she given herself to learning as she did now. She learned with knowledge flowing into her as if she were a sponge placed into the ocean.  
  
Other's needs, her own needs, everything was subordinated to one over-bearing desire. What had happened to her husband? What could be done? Why had it been done?  
  
Shinji, work, eating, it all fell from her mind. And she went on, and learned more and correlated and cross-referenced and called in more data. The machinery continued.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
June 22, 2004  
  
"So where is the Director?" asked Naoko Akagi. Akagi was the Executive of "Project E", Gehirn's primary concern. "I've seen not hide nor hair of Ikari since … the Contact Experiment."  
  
"Yes, the failed synchronisation test," added Naoko's assistant, who stood at the Doctor's left.  
  
"Or not so much failed as too successful," corrected her second underling, on Naoko's right.  
  
Kozo's glare was a thing of wonder, a palpable menace arisen from years of recalcitrant students. Both the underlings actually shied from his face whilst Naoko's straightened in surprise. Kozo fully turned to face them as they stood in the quiet control room of Gehirn. Blue light from panels reflected off of pale skin and tired eyes.  
  
"Director Ikari is occupied with assessments. Her disposition is none of your concern. Carry on, Chairman Akagi," he said coldly, keeping to the most formal of titles to indicate his displeasure.  
  
Naoko huffed and walked away, assistants in tow. As he watched her leave, Kozo frowned. Naoko was not the only one curious or worried about the Director's state. Even Kozo was in that number. She had shut herself in and locked the door. Security programs guarded her online searches but the throughput was immense. Packages containing all manner of manuscripts were being ferried to her quarters and she let nothing but those packages enter.  
  
Yes, Yui's singleminded determination was frightening. Unfortunately, the aim of her determination was unknown. Kozo feared that whatever his words had meant to Ikari, they had triggered a fiend. Obviously, his words had the desired effect of getting the widow to take up the challenge of Directorship. Kozo knew that Gehirn was a temporary construction. In mandate, structure and form, Gehirn was not the creature to perform the defence against the Angels. That would be left to a new creation.  
  
"Uncle Fuyutski?" asked a timid, scared voice at his side. There stood the four-year old Shinji, alone and neglected, by his late father and his bereaved mother.  
  
Kozo forced a kindly smile to his face and he knelt to regard the boy. "Yes, Shinji?"  
  
Shinji looked down ashamedly before timidly speaking. "I'm really hungry," he said at little more than a whisper.  
  
Kozo shut his eyes and sighed. There had been no one to take care of Shinji and Kozo himself was flat out with his work. Shinji wasn't being properly taken care of, there was no one to administer to it. Kozo had been promising himself to free up some time and find a day care or something for the emotional boy. "Alright, Shinji, it's time I got some food for myself as well. Come along, let's see what we can find."  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
5:6 For five days and nights, Yui committed herself to the study of all topics. 7. Tireless work created it's own reward.  
  
27:1. When at the end of her own travails, Yui happened upon a key, she emerged from her studies as if through fire. 2. Tested, emboldened and determined, Ikari found a course for herself and never wavered from it from that day forward.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
June 23, 2004  
  
Inside Yui's study it was claustrophobic. Remains of the most meagre of meals vied for ancient manuscripts upon the tabletop. Script after script occupied space and all three monitors of her terminal displayed enormous tracts of data that she sifted through. Her tireless work of amassing and correlating data continued without pause or regard for sanity. All angles were being examined the breadth and width of the Red Earth Strain of Scenarios was being studied.  
  
She searched for anything and everything to explain the events of the 18th of June. Somewhere the answer awaited, and the chance to right that wrong.  
  
And there it was…  
  
Selee had double-dealt, but had missed a manuscript. When they attempted to censor the flow of Yui's information they neglected to obtain Yui's old books. One of these had information pertaining the Red Earth Scenarios. Not everything, but a lead. And that was what Yui had needed.  
  
So now she knew. Knew what the Scenarios really promised. She had known Selee's stake in this, she would have the same fate. The species would be preserved against the coming judgement. The council would oversee the ascendancy of the human race. She hadn't known just what the personal price for her would be. The wording of the Scenario almost specifically laid out the price she would pay, and it was steep. Her husband, her family, her friends.  
  
She knew it was too late to back away, but to continue was about impossible. Another answer was apparent though. The text suggested a different strain. Within the Seraphic Strain, of the Hod Kingdom of the Positive Loyalty were three scenarios. One of these was to become the driving force of Yui's existence from that day.  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
"Assistant Director Fuyutski," rang out a voice from the entrance to the conference room. The milling officials, such as Naoko and Kozo, all froze and snapped their gazes towards the door. There, framed by the open door, stood Yui Ikari. "Please come with me. For everyone else, I'm sorry for wasting your time, this meeting is postponed until tomorrow."  
  
There was a moment of stunned silence from those assembled as they laid eyes upon their boss, who had been absent for almost an entire week. Her sudden reappearance took a moment to adjust to, but adjust they did. Even as Fuyutski's feet moved towards the door a bold interjection arose.  
  
"Now wait just a minute, Director Ikari!" protested the Doctor in charge of Project Koi, an Eva weapons development unit. "This," he began before falling silent.  
  
Yui Ikari had turned to face him and fixed him with the coldest glare. Everything from the furrow of her brow to the set of her jaw reflected the coldest contempt and disdain for the interruption. It was as if the temperature had plunged in the room, for no longer was sweet Yui there but an angered and betrayed woman and the new Director of Gehirn.   
  
In her stare was the bitterness, betrayal and anger of Selee's actions, the sorrow and bereavement of her husbands death and the maniacal fire of someone who had spent too long reading divine texts. The power and authority in her stance was breath taking. What had gone into seclusion five days previous had been a strong-willed brilliant scientist. What had emerged was a spiritual juggernaut, whose determination, direction and confidence were evident to all that saw her. Gendo's personality and presence in life around Gehirn had been intimidating, even moreso than Yui. After the death of Gendo and a catharsis in studying Yui's presence was another order altogether.  
  
"Doctor Mbeki, you do not give orders to me, I give orders to you. This meeting is postponed." Yui said no more but gave the Chairman of Project Koi a last terrifying glare and left. Fuyutski followed at her heels faithfully. Their footfalls made a unified echo through the corridors as Fuyutski adjusted his pace to follow Ikari.  
  
For a time they walked in silence, composing their thoughts. Their travel through the corridors left scattered and surprised workers in their wake. Still they walked without pause.  
  
"May I assume your study has borne fruit? Shinji would like to see you again," said Fuyutski with casual grace.  
  
Yui faltered mid-step, maternal feelings beginning to return. She nodded. "I'll have to check up on him soon. He's kept out of mischief I hope?"  
  
Kozo gave a ghostly smile. "We did what we could," he allowed.  
  
Yui nodded. "First, Kozo, we're going to a meeting."  
  
"Is this why you postponed our other meeting?" asked Kozo, keeping an even keel.   
  
Yui frowned. "That was not a routine meeting." Ikari gave Fuyutski a searching gaze before sighing imperceptibly. "I guess my disappearing act was bound to ruffle feathers," she admitted, realising the meeting was meant to discuss her own state as Director.  
  
"I did what I could with smoothing. I'm afraid I may have pressed some underheel, however," admitted Fuyutski.  
  
"I'm sure you did whatever could be expected of you under the situation," allowed Yui with a sigh.  
  
"So what is this new meeting?" asked the Assistant Director of Gehirn as he dodged a passing lab technician. The corridors were still utilitarian but acquired homier touches in places. They were entering the housing areas. "Unless I'm closer to senility than I thought, we're heading away from the meeting places.  
  
Yui gestured with her hand for Kozo to be silent. Following that wish, they continued their trip without noise or incident until they reached the Ikari family door. Increasingly confused, Kozo waited until he was inside the family residence before raising a query. But his attempt was cut short by a more pressing matter.  
  
Shinji launched himself across the room to be picked up by his mother. His eyes shone with an rising tide of tears. The neglected child lapped up the attention Yui finally paid him, finally giving him some parental comfort following the loss of his father. So Yui picked him up and held him tight and patted his back and dried his tears as only a mother could.  
  
Watching the proceedings, Kozo felt relief that Yui still retained a mothering instinct after the unsettling display in the conference room. Five days locked away with manuscripts ancient and modern, not grieving but working like a machine, had affected Yui. She was keeping her grief bottled within her, and it wasn't healthy. But it had given her a power and presence he couldn't deny. Moreover, her subordinates couldn't deny it, and even the tempestuous head of Project Koi was silenced by it.  
  
Yui rocked softly, lulling her child. "Shhh, little Shinji, your mother's here now, it's okay. It's going to be okay, one day, it'll all be okay."  
  
Now that statement disturbed Kozo. He couldn't quite put his finger on which part was so worrisome as to raise hairs on his neck. But then his conscious mind caught up with his unconscious and found "one day, it'll all be okay". Yui hadn't grieved. Worse, she hadn't accepted it. It was a stretch to make from a simple statement, but with everything else Fuyutski had seen, he was certain. Now the question was, what had Yui found to break her from isolation?  
  
"Now, Shinji, I need you to stay here. I'll fix you something to eat, but then you have to be a good little boy and wait for me, okay?"  
  
Finally taking care of her beloved son, Yui stood up and fixed Kozo with a pensive look. "Okay, Fuyutski, now it's time for some explanations. You'll be meeting the Throne of Souls with me, as my assistant. This will be an Inner Council meeting. They feel you are loyal enough to allow it, and allow you to be my aide. Remember, that perception is important to us."  
  
Fuyutski was taken aback by the warning. It was spoken as an outsider to the council, not a member as she had said before. "Ikari, is there?"  
  
Yui leaned forward and whispered urgently. "Fuyutski, my old teacher, Selee planned this. They withheld information from me, but I got around their blocks. That accident with Gendo, they knew it was going to happen. There was no accident. But I can bring him back, and depose the council for betraying me. But I'll need your help, and your loyalty. Will you help me, Kozo?"  
  
There was a moment of the most profound silence. Kozo let his mind run free, trying to understand his current predicament. Was this a test. Was Yui serious? Were they being listened too? What did all this entail?  
  
"Will you help me, Kozo?" she asked again.  
  
Kozo nodded. "Yes, I'll help you."  
  
//~~~~\\  
  
Authors Notes.  
  
Well, okay, got a little more out. Coulda used with a bit more polish but that's something I do over time (don't be surprised to see updates of any/all of these chapters over time).  
  
Other than that, thanks to my reviewers. And if any of you spots a blooper, please point it out for me. Much obliged, thanks ^^;; 


End file.
